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'You grow and develop. He's done that' - Hansen
By Ben Spratt
New Zealand boss Steve Hansen is wary of the threat posed by Argentina under the leadership of former Australia forwards coach Mario Ledesma.
Ledesma was appointed the new Pumas boss last month after impressing in his brief first stint as a head coach with Jaguares, but the ex-international hooker previously served on Michael Cheika's staff with the Wallabies.
And after a bright start with Argentina, winning and losing a game apiece against South Africa, Hansen has already identified ways in which Ledesma's experience has helped him to improve the Pumas.
"I think [Ledesma's] time with Australia will have broadened how he thinks about the game," Hansen said. "It's no different to any of us if we get outside our comfort zone, outside of our own national way of playing.
"You grow and develop. He's done that, taken it back to Argentina and got pretty good results so far.
"They like to play it up the middle but they now look like they want to use the backs. Their backs are big and fast, so it is going to be a good contest."
The All Blacks face Argentina in Nelson on Saturday in their latest Rugby Championship fixture.
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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